Rate My Professor Daisy Vanrompay

Daisy Vanrompay serves as a senior full professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and Aquatic Ecology within Ghent University’s Faculty of Bioscience Engineering. Appointed as Professor of Immunology and Animal Biotechnology in 2000, she earned her Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Ghent University in 1990 and holds a Doctor in Veterinary Sciences. As Director of the Laboratory for Immunology and Animal Biotechnology and the National Diagnostic Reference Laboratory for Chlamydia psittaci infections in humans, her career encompasses extensive contributions to veterinary microbiology, immunology, and biotechnology. She is affiliated with initiatives such as BLUEGent, Marine@UGent, and PROVAXS. Vanrompay teaches courses including human and animal biotechnology, biomedical immunology, fish and shellfish immunology, and disease management.

Her research specializations include adaptive and innate immunity, vaccinology, aquaculture, veterinary epidemiology, veterinary public health and food safety, and other biotechnologies. Key focuses involve Chlamydia infections in humans and animals (C. psittaci, C. suis, C. abortus, C. trachomatis), Escherichia coli infections in ruminants and chickens (including avian pathogenic E. coli), and bacterial infections in aquaculture such as Vibrio spp., Aeromonas spp., and Providencia spp. in fish and shrimp. Her laboratory develops molecular diagnostic methods, elucidates cellular and molecular pathogenesis of bacterial infections, and designs protective mucosal immunity strategies. Efforts center on innovative prophylactics: next-generation vaccines (e.g., self-amplifying mRNA vaccines), probiotics, virulence blockers, and novel antimicrobials as alternatives to antibiotics, using in vitro and in vivo animal models. Notable publications include "Chlamydiaceae infections in pig" (Veterinary Research, 2011), "Chlamydia trachomatis vaccine research through the years" (Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2011), "Chlamydophila psittaci Transmission from Pet Birds to Humans" (Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2007), "Prevalence and tetracycline susceptibility of Chlamydia suis in different intestinal sections of pigs from commercial farms" (2026), and "Probiotic Bacillus species to mitigate acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) in shrimp aquaculture" (2026). She holds a patent for a method and peptides for the detection of Chlamydia suis.